Second Life9 Jun 2025

Jessica Malaty Rivera: Science Communicator and Infectious Disease Epidemiologist

Jessica Malaty Rivera is an infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator renowned for making complex public health information accessible, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While initially premed at USC, she pivoted to studying health promotion and disease prevention, and worked in the nonprofit sector after college. She was later recruited to research emerging biological threats at Georgetown University and simultaneously decided to pursue a master’s degree there in biohazardous threat agents and emerging infectious diseases. While she’s always loved science, she began to realize that where she truly excelled was in “speaking science.” And the deeper Rivera got into infectious disease epidemiology—whether through work or academia—the more she realized how critical the communications aspect of science was to public health. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she joined The Atlantic to lend her expertise to the COVID Tracking Project to provide publicly available, comprehensive data on COVID-19 cases in real time. She then began using Instagram to explain and interpret global health news, unexpectedly gaining a large following for her easy-to-understand information. Over the past five years, she has grown her platform, launched a Substack, and is currently completing a Doctorate in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, all while remaining dedicated to science facts and public health literacy.

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Episoder(689)

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Kendra Scott: Designer and CEO

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Hannah Bronfman: HBFit Founder, DJ, and Author

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14 Jan 201935min

Aimee Song: Fashion Blogger, Influencer, and Author

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7 Jan 201938min

Jamie Kantrowitz: Countertop Foods Co-Founder and CEO

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31 Des 201835min

Jennifer Lopez: Actress, Singer, and Producer with Writer and Producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Everybody knows that before Jennifer Lopez was the multihyphenate superstar she is today, she was Jenny from the block. But most people don’t know how she made the leap from a dancer to an actor to a ...

24 Des 201832min

Kerry O'Brien: Commando Founder and CEO

Kerry O'Brien never could have anticipated that her career in public relations would lead her to become an underwear designer, but that's exactly what happened. The entrepreneur started out in corpora...

17 Des 201838min

Carla Hall: Chef, TV Personality, and Cookbook Author

Carla Hall was always a creative, but before competing on Top Chef, authoring cookbooks, and starring on The Chew, she was auditing at a big accounting firm and pursuing modeling in Europe. When she r...

10 Des 201849min